LANSING - In the 1970s Bill Guerin was attending graduate school in the state of Florida. While attending graduate school, Guerin decided to take a few pottery classes. Guerin enjoyed pottery, but stepped away from the art to pursue his academic career in science. His career as a scientist eventually lead him to Michigan where he would study soil microbiology."

Guerin later made a choice to leave his career as a scientist and dedicate his time to helping raise his kids. Guerin also found he had some free time, so after 18 years away he decided to get back to working with clay by taking some classes at the Greater Lansing Potters' Guild.

"Kinda like riding a bike it seemed like it came right back to me; being able to center the clay and throw a pot," said Guerin. "So I took a couple classes and then I applied to become a visiting potter which is a program that we have here, it's kind of like an apprenticeship program."

After two years as a visiting potter, Guerin was invited to become a member of the Greater Lansing Potters' Guild. Guerin has been a member with the Guild for about 18 years now and he is also their current president.
The Greater Lansing Potters' Guild host two Pottery Sales each year; one in the spring and one in the fall. Members of the Guild have hundreds of ceramic pieces available for purchase during the sale.

Guerin explained, "The thing that gives me a lot of satisfaction is having people come up to me at the sale and saying oh I love your work and I you know every morning I open the cabinet and there's your bowl and I eat my cereal out of it or whatever or drink my coffee out of your mug, uh just make it a point to come up. I've gotten emails and letters from people and cards from people telling me how much they enjoy my work and that's very gratifying."

Pottery is a lot of work which is one of the reasons the Greater Lansing Potters' Guild can only host two sales a year. Guerin explain making ceramics is physically demanding work. When asked if he plans to stay with the Guild for another 18 years Guerin said, "I don't know what's in the cards for me. Personally umm you know I'll keep doing this as long as I'm physically able too."

For more information about the Greater Lansing Potters' Guild, you can visit their website at www.glpg.org.